A noted nonfiction writer and journalist brings his experience to bear on the question of how to compile biographies or personal histories of your family members. He offers enormously practical, basic advice on the process of interviewing, the logistics, the psychology, the courtesies involved, with an impressive list of starter questions. He talks a little bit about other forms of research (at courthouses, for instance), and a fair amount about the process of converting what you've learned into a prose narrative. There's a lot of insistence on the value of undertaking a process like this, sometimes touching and heartfelt but at other times pretentious.

If you have any interest in undertaking a project which might require you to interview people or compile oral histories, this is a must-read, despite its limitations. And used copies are dirt-cheap.